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Architects: gad, line+ studio
- Area: 9937 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:schranimage, Ce Wang, Xi Chen, Lei Sun
Text description provided by the architects. Dongfengyun Art Town, where the Art Center is located, is on the outskirts of Miele City, Yunnan Province, about an hour's drive from Kunming, the Provincial Capital. Since 2014, Luo Xu, an artist from Yunnan Province, has created a series of sculptural installations such as "Kaleidoscope" and "Half A Cloud", as well as large and small clusters of tile kilns built of red bricks, which have constituted an unrestrained exotic world with the red boundless Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and rugged mountains. The Art Town, which covers an area of about 1.6 square kilometers, is well known to people.
Facing a stretch of red land and a super-scale sculpture architectural cluster, the intervention of the Art Center will have to consider the original order of the site. The "red stone formation" composed of five extraterrestrial stones is neither an explicit towering structure nor a creeping landscape architecture. I hope to return to the original nature through the unconventional architectural form language and the industrial use of contemporary materials to complete a temperament dialogue with the site, and to realize the renewal of the site.—— Meng Fanhao
Concept: Stone Form in Nature - As we cast our eyes once more upon the vast expanse of red earth, a group of "stones half-hidden in the sand" appears slowly, with a primitive sense of eternity, linked with a sense of awe for nature, as well as a dialectic view of humility in Chinese wisdom, "Great art conceals itself." Inspired by this, we choose to return to nature and set a group of growing "red stone formations" on the red high ground. The free-cutting shape and rough texture weaken the artificial sense of the building, making it like five extraterrestrial stones, which are still standing here after weathering over time.
Space: Canyon-Like Tension Remodeling - The building of visitors' sense of experience and scene is also an important factor for us to consider. We lengthened the path for visitors to enter the building. Through the sea of flowers, water features, and walls, visitors slowly approach the angular "red stone formation" in the gradual transition between natural and artificial landscapes, creating a sense of ritual before entering the building. Under the cutting of non-orthogonal shape and volume, the space experience between canyons is formed. The scaling between volumes reshapes our viewing perspective and physical experience of the sky, fields, and mountains of the site.
The strategy of "stone formation" realizes the division of the building functions into parts, while the glass atrium connecting five separate "red stones" integrates the architectural form. The atrium thus becomes the core of the internal space. All activities are carried out around the atrium. At the same time, all spaces can be operated independently. The art center realizes the unity of decentralized layout and overall functions. In the vertical direction, the large steps in the atrium, which conform to the natural height difference between the north and south of the site, connect the space between the first floor and the underground floor and form a public performance and book bar space built on the terrain, where visitors can fully enjoy the sunshine and feel the natural penetration between the inside and outside.
Individual "stones" bearing large and small exhibition halls and theaters are arranged at different heights. Inside the space, the steps traverse a height difference of 5-6 meters, allowing visitors to experience the "mountain walkway". The image of the canyon is also extended to the design of interior strip lights, bar-shaped Windows, front square path, and other architectural elements, the space tension circulates between the inside and outside cycle.
Materials and Construction: In Situ Expression of Industrialized Materials - When dealing with the relationship between the building and the site environment, we must also consider the relative relationship with the red brick sculpture complex. Therefore, the use of traditional materials used by the sculpture complex was an effective response. However, under the multiple requirements of technical specifications, construction accuracy, and structural safety, we finally choose to realize the local cultural expression through the industrial application of modern materials and also try to provide some experience for the development process of local building industrialization and construction technology in Mile in the future. Finally, the main structure of the art center is the steel structure system, and the facade is the red concrete dry-hanging curtain wall system, forming a "red stone" like cutting shape and plain texture.
The Practice of Renewal under the Field Temperament Dialogue - The first impression of the vast expanse of red land in Yunnan and Guizhou is rough, wild, quiet, and eternal. We hope that the intervention of architecture will not disturb the original field order and temperament. The raw and bold architectural form reminds people of the thousands of years of changes on this land, and will also express its multiple identities in the change of time, as a recorder and a witness.
Furthermore, Dongfengyun Art Center is not only a physical space, making up for the group gathering and cultural activity space in addition to vacation and leisure, but also will be the spatial symbol of the town, creating a unique experience of space and materials for those who come here. Finally, as the largest public space in the town, it will continue to support the town's voice and enhance the influence of art, driving the future development of the town.
